This invention pertains to antimicrobials effective in protecting against cocci and bacilli bacterial infections.
Although many antimicrobials have been suggested for the treatment of coccic and baccilic infections, such diseases continue to be a problem. The reason for this is that bacteria embodying within themselves an array of yet unanswered puzzles in biology, both fundamental and experimental. They are ubiquitous in distribution and have attained extreme degrees of diversification in biological and biochemical characteristics. It is recognized that the significance of staphylococcal infections is not so much in severity, except in a few instances, as in the subtleties of the infection due to the unpredictable vagaries of these organisms.
Treatment, of diseases caused by cocci and bacilli is complicated by the ability of the organisms to develop resistance. The magnitude of the problem is further amplified by the extreme difficulty of total eradication, and the frequent reappearance of the same strain even after apparent successful elimination. The inability to eliminate the carrier state by any of the currently known methods and the prevalence of the new antibiotic resistant hospital strains have added a new dimension to the frustrating situation. The development of such multiple antibiotic resistant strains of the organism suggests the desirability of investigating additional means of combatting the infections. As a consequence the development of antimicrobials which are effective against coccic and bacillic infections has attracted considerable attention.
As shown by such prior art U.S. Pat. Nos. as 3,629,451, 3,728,444, and 3,843,798 we have previously found certain natural amino acids, those found in organ extracts, such as brain, spleen, kidney, and heart, to be antistaphylococcal and antistreptococcal agents. Accordingly it was decided to investigate the anticoccic activity of long carbon chain alcohols. However, such alcohols have been found to be toxic (LD.sub.50, approximately 4.5-5.0 gm/kg for rat--oral). This invention overcomes this toxicity problem.